Using Virtual and Immersive Learning Environments in Schools

Using Virtual Worlds in
Schools
David W. Deeds
ISTE Conference
Virtual Environments
Special Interest Group
June 25, 2013

Schools
 Using Immersive/Virtual Learning
Environments (ILE/VLE, aka 3D virtual
worlds) since 2006
 3 years higher ed, 4 K-12/international

Schools

Schools
Second Life:
 Massively Multiplayer Online…Insert
Your Favorite Description
Here…Game?
 Introduced by Linden Labs in 2003
 Own currency and
economy, intellectual property rights
 Built-in 3D CAD and language/IDE
 Open to people 16 and up since 2010

Schools
Peterson Schools Cybercampus:
Teaching 6
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Teaching%206
/237/211/25/

Schools
Firestorm Viewer:
http://www.firestormviewer.org/download
s/
xxxx
Second Life:
http://www.secondlife.co
m

Schools
Readymade Avatars:
Password: ilovesl2009
SLTeacherOne Aristocrat
SLTeacherTwo Bookmite
SLTeacherThree Netizen
SLTeacherFour Quintessa
SLTeacherFive Scribe
SLTeacherSix Turbo

Schools
Woosong Virtual University
Cybercampus

Schools
Second Life: Higher Ed

Schools
Second Life: Higher Education
Classes (500+ students inworld):
Mine: Freshmen – Juniors: Computer
Programming, Business Management,
Internet Marketing, Project Management
(Uni: Regular Majors, College: Votech)
Others: Freshmen – Seniors: Wide
variety of English courses, including
Business English
(S/T in our college plus others, global)

Schools
What Were We Doing?
 Teaching without textbooks (some
e-books)
 Kids created/managed cybercampus,
put on shows, made and sold
real/virtual products
 Handled all management, pricing,
marketing
 Learned programming via LSL, also
CAD
 Active, learner-centric, English

Schools
What Worked?
 Bridged the communications gap –
digital natives knew what to do, even in
English
 Overcame ASMeB – Antisocial Social
Media Behavior –
synchronous, anonymous (FUN!)
 Hit the sweet spot re: programming
“payoff”

Schools
What Didn’t Work?
 Trying to recreate classroom
configuration or situation in virtual world
 Worrying about kids meeting SL weirdos
(socialization, experimentation worked
out)
 Assignments too open-ended (cohesive
structure/theme needed, goals)
 Mixing English with others subjects

Schools
Second Life: K-12

Schools
Second Life: K-12
Classes (50+ students inworld):
 Information Technology in a Global
Society – Three Strands: IT Systems,
Social and Ethical Significance,
Application to Specified Scenarios
 In Group 3, Individuals and Societies –
provides technical education regardless
 Diploma Program opportunity for kids
with low English skills, Special Needs

Schools
Second Life: K-12
What Are We Doing?
 Students maintain cybercampus and
host students from other
schools/countries
 E-textbooks provide content for IT
lessons, ethical/moral and other
discussions
 Projects/products: website, t-shirts,
more

Schools
Middle Years Art Show

Schools
Podcasts and Concerts

Schools
Latest Project: NAIS Challenge 20/20

Schools
Second Life: K-12
What Has Worked?
 Hands-on, visual aspect of just about all
work (learning styles)
 Experiential opportunities, meeting
people
 Sense of freedom and openness (to a
degree!)
 Provided teachers with sources of
professional development (teacher and

Schools
Second Life: K-12
What Hasn’t Worked?
 Convincing the IBO to abolish the
written examination (70-30
external/internal grade)
 Students too shy to train teachers
(students!) but there’s still hope to make
this a service
 Pretending it’s not FUN! (It is, just don’t
tell!)

Schools
Second Life: K-12
Future Classes
 Next NAIS Challenge 20/20 Project to
involve wide variety of subjects
 ITGS students will use cybercampus to
promote 3D Global Village
 Want to expand SL usage for teacher
professional development

Schools
If you’re interested in getting your own
Second Life cybercampus, contact
Carol Pfeifer of the New Media
Consortium:
carol@nmc.org

Schools
OpenSimulator: K-12

Schools
OpenSimulator:
 Massively Multiplayer Online…Insert
Your Favorite Description
Here…Game?
 Introduced in 2007, not an SL clone!
 Own currency and economy,
intellectual property rights, etc.,
coming soon
 Built-in 3D CAD and language/IDE

Schools
Imprudence Viewer:
http://wiki.kokuaviewer.org/wiki/Imprudence
:Downloads
Peterson Schools URL:
http://209.126.208.161:9020

Schools
Readymade Avatars:
Password: iloveos2009
CP Student10
CP Student11
CP Student12
CP Student13
CP Student14
CP Student15

Schools
OpenSimulator: K-12
Classes (200+ students inworld)
 Middle Years Program (MYP)
Technology – Shift from Digital Literacy
made long ago;
Art, Music, Science, Humanities soon
 Primary Years Program (PYP)
Information Communications
Technology (ICT) - switch from Digital
Literacy to IB Design Cycle
th

Schools
OpenSimulator: K-12
What Are We Doing?
 Teaching Computer-Aided
Design, Project
Management, Programming
 Teaching task-based lessons with other
tools
 Changing Technology to inquiry-/task-
based
 Using skeleton lesson plans, students

Schools
OpenSimulator Project: Adobe Village

Schools
OpenSimulator Project: Virtual City

Schools
OpenSimulator: Hypergrid Scavenger Hunt

Schools
OpenSimulator: K-12
What Has Worked?
 Simple Instructions/Skeleton Lesson
Plans
 Three C’s – Connect, Communicate,
Collaborate (and #4: Cooperate –
Project Management)
 IB Design Cycle: Investigate, Design,
Plan, Create and Evaluate (also
Attitudes!)

Schools
OpenSimulator: K-12
What Has Worked?
 Reciprocal guidance, “guide on the side”
 Changing viewer interface to student
primary language
 Constructivism, esp. Social
Constructivism
 Self-reliance, adapting to change skills
 Scratch and S4SL for programming
basics

Schools
OpenSimulator: K-12
 Assuming productivity the first week!
 Calling it a GAME! Use “immersive
learning environment” instead! Also, e-
/textbooks
 Overcoming, but still dealing with active
versus passive role (not Asia specific!)
 Trying to jump right into LSL (Scratch
first!)

Schools
Latest Projects: MOSES

Schools
OpenSimulator: K-12
Future Classes
 Will pitch 3D Global Village at upcoming
Annual Educators’ Conference
 Cross-curricular efforts
 Expand to Middle and Elementary
School classes, other campuses
 Use as foundation for advanced
programming classes

Schools
If you’re interested in getting your own
OpenSimulator cybercampus, contact
Snoopy Pfeffer of Dreamland
Metaverse:
snoopy.pfeffer@yahoo.com

Schools
Quest Atlantis: K-12

Schools
• Visit: www.atlantisremixed.org (regular
version plus new game-like beta)
• FREE prebuilt 3DVW with readymade
quests (you can create your own, also
build with tools)
• For students 9-16, maybe as young as
8
• Trainers in different locations, regular
schedule; must have 2 teachers to

Schools
Classes (30+ students)
• English Language A/B classes (native
speakers plus other kids who are
proficient)
• Registered users have a code of
conduct and other guidelines to follow
while inworld
• Missions include everything from
stopping bullying to saving a city from
the plague (!)

Schools
What Has Worked?
• Structured aspect of just about
everything easier for kids to handle
(lack of uncertainty)
• Increased focus on tasks (out of
necessity)
• Exposure to wider range of scenarios
and situations (versus another SL/OS
sim)

Schools
• Students with poor English skills (but
then teachers like the reading aspect!)
• Special Needs kids no; Gifted kids yes,
but they need special lesson plans
• Anything smelling remotely like a
lecture (kids just want to go inworld)
• Couldn’t get it going in Mexico
because of bureaucratic problems

Schools
Future Classes
• Try it again at just one campus first
• Want to expand to: Humanities and
Science classes
• English Literature classes too
(stories), tie in with more than just
blogs
• Want to arrange virtual field trips
to/from other schools: QA is “safe”

Schools
If you’d like to get started with Quest
Atlantis at your school, contact Bronwyn
Stuckey:
bronwyn.stuckey@gmail.com

Schools
MinecraftEdu: K-12

Schools
MinecraftEdu: K-12
• Regular version: www.minecraft.net
• 20 million+ registered users
worldwide,
5 million+ have bought the game
• Building things, mining for minerals,
fighting monsters, you name it!
• Singleplayer (free) or multiplayer
(license), license is about US $30
• Kids (and adults) love the game, but

Schools
MinecraftEdu: K-12
• Hosted solution: Massively Minecraft,
www.massivelyminecraft.org
• Special inhouse mod for education:
MinecraftEdu, www.minecraftedu.com
• MinecraftEdu: “Playing offline,” local
server, no regular licenses
needed, US $45
• Up to 100 students (we’ve had up to
50)

Schools
MinecraftEdu: K-12
Classes (125+ students)
• Middle Years Program Technology
classes
• Making the IB happy by partnering
with Art and other classes
• Logic gates and other interactivity
exercises, seems simple but can be
sophisticated
• Feature of 10th grade Computer

Schools
MinecraftEdu: K-12
What Has Worked?
• MinecraftEdu puts the teacher in
charge!
• Self-directed, self-paced, self-reliant
work (individual and team-based)
• Lots of connections with other tools:
Prezi, Moodle, Google Sketchup and
WordPress blogs
• Reciprocal guidance, project

Schools
MinecraftEdu: K-12
• Need to constantly observe/monitor
students (who still perceive it as a
game)
• Need for tutoring in different
languages
• Lack of structure perceived even with
lesson plans specifying deliverables
and deadlines

Schools
MinecraftEdu: K-12
Future Classes
• Hosted/online solution to work with
students in other schools/countries
(virtual field trips)
• Expand on science connections:
geology, physics, engineering, etc.
• Want to expand community aspects
• Give the PYP munchkins a shot
• Nice: Quest Atlantis-style missions

Schools
If you’d like to try Massively
Minecraft, contact Jo Kay:
minecraft@jokaydia.com
If you’d like to try MinecraftEdu, contact
Santeri Koivisto:
santeri@teachergaming.com

Schools
World of Warcraft: K-12 (Coming Soon)

Schools
Inspiration/Gurus:
World of Warcraft in School
http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/
Lucas Gillispie, Peggy Sheehy, Craig
Lawson

Schools
Download the WoW in School PDF:
http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/f/WoW
inSchool-A-Heros-Journey.pdf

Schools
21st Century Fluency Project:
http://fluency21.com/
 Collaboration – teamwork
 Solution – problem solving
 Creativity – storytelling, art/photos
 Information –
interpretation, application
 Media - communications

Schools
Games-Based Learning/Gamification:
 Different learning styles
accommodated
 Different subjects simultaneously
 Self- and other-directed engagement
 Motivating, provides task-based
focus
 Project management, strategic
thinking

Schools
Kafkaesque
Draenei Warrior, Level 66
Exalted Knight of Divine
Light
Exalted Stormwind Defender

Schools
WoW Background:
 Massively Multiplayer Online Role
Playing Game (MMORPG) by
Blizzard Entertainment
 Latest in a series, WoW released
2004
 Expansion sets, newest one is Mists
of Pandaria, released in 2012
 8 million subscribers, #1 MMORPG
 Free accounts!

Schools
WoW Background (cont):
 Players start by choosing a race and
a classification (e.g., Draenei
Warrior)
 Race chosen determines starting
spot

Schools
 Choose server (IRL location)
 Choose PvE, PvP, RP (PvE is
“normal”)

Schools
 Players complete quests to gain
XP, rise in level number
 Quests and professions earn money

Schools
 Benefits increase as level rises
 But also difficulty (regions)

Schools
WoW Interface/Controls/Maps/Tour:

Schools
Standards! And I plan to use the IB’s
(especially the Learner Profile) too.

Schools
Wow in School:
 Teachers were Loremasters, class
managed via Moodle site
 Students discuss adventures inside
and outside of WoW (e.g., blog)
 Books like “The Hobbit” used as
background material
 Go on quests, design quests for
others

Schools
Colegios Peterson WoW:
 Start with WoW background story
and/or strategy guide

Schools
 Divide class by race, then have them
choose classifications (mixture)

Schools
 Devise strategies (cross-curricular
between Technology, English, Art
classes)

Schools
 Ideally, will tie in with
SL/OpenSimulator 3D Global Village,
other projects

Schools
 At a certain level, meet at common
location(s) for mutual adventures

Schools
 Students will maintain blog, different
perspectives according to classes

Schools
 Will copy the gurus, double XP
system; but: Haiku vs. Moodle, PvE
vs. RP, professions, pet battles, etc.

Schools
 And: want to experiment with
machinima (machine cinema)

Schools
 Maybe Guild Wars 2: dynamic event
system but costs money

Schools
Follow my Scoop.it page:
http://www.scoop.it/t/3d-virtual-worlds-
educational-technology

Schools
Thank you!
Questions/Comments?
ddeeds@peterson.mx
davidwdeeds@yahoo.com

Using Virtual and Immersive Learning Environments in Schools

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